Tír Annouhns (session)
Tír Annouhns was the 16th session of the Daevenfell campaign, and the second session of Chapter 4: Remnants of the Realm. Summary Before opening the doors leading deeper into the ancient citadel, Ridqeck decides to see what happens by smashing a strange crystal that's part of a puzzle mechanism. This releases a wave of fear, sending Kaun bolting back towards the entrance. The rest of the group hears a scream and violent commotion from the outside, and by the time they reach him, Kaun is clutched in the claws of the giant bug. The party tries to rescue him, attacking the creature, but Kaun is losing blood fast. Understanding his fate, he uses the last of his strength to toss his valuables to the party, before drawing his bow one last time. For once, Kaun does not miss. The beast lets out a scream, and the two plunge into the abyss. The party is left in shock, at the sudden, unexpected loss of their friend. They see no other option than to continue deeper inside. They pass through a set of red doors, and arrive at the shore of an underground lake. A boat lies ready for them on the shore. As they climb aboard, they are approached by a dwarf who introduces himself as Genji. He's a self righteous wizard, and seems to have followed them inside somehow. Nobody's particularly in the mood to accept someone new into the party, but they grudgingly let him come along. Exploring the sea, they take several paths, all leading back to the same spot. Eventually they figure out a mechanism on the central island is able to reverse the streams, which send them down a waterfall to a deeper level of the cave system. Through some thorough investigation, they discover an invisble door, where they are greated by a fox like creature – a degenerate gambler who informs them the cave is home to a monster called Rosencrantz, and that their odds of even surviving an encounter with him are abysmal. Ridqeck and Edith decide to take him up on those odds, betting a considerable amount of gold that they will tell the creature hello and return to tell the tale. The fox accepts. The party goes deeper into the cave, and has no trouble finding Rosencrantz. He is a massive Beholder, who upon seeing them laughs that food has been so bold as to come directly to him. Skip, fascinated, takes a step closer to sketch the creature into his notebook. Rosencrantz releases a beam of disintegration, utterly annihilating Skip, leaving nothing but ash. The party looks at each other. Another beam. Genji is gone, as fast as he appeared. The party runs. Bolting as fast as their legs will carry them, Longclaw is the next to fall, with Rosencrantz in fast pursuit. They just barely manage to go through another set of red doors, taking them somewhere completely different. Kaun dead, Skip dead, and also Genji. And just barely escaping from the ashes, they find themselves in a place of fire.